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Hi-Tek Peru
Your technology connection in Lima
By F.P. Nagle

Welcome to the first in what will hopefully be a long series of articles on technology in Peru - specifically in Lima. Other areas of the country may be addressed as time and change warrant and as topics may be suggested by “you” - the reader.

Not knowing where to begin, I tried to think of what I needed from technology when I first arrived here in Lima. “INTERNET CONNECTION” came to mind. How do I keep in touch with friends and relatives worldwide from a totally new location?

The newly arrived “foreigner” may find it daunting as to where to look for this type of information. There are surprisingly many options available to the “newbie” in Lima. I'll cover a few, and there may be many others that you know about and can suggest for future use as well.

Internet Cafés - Peru is “loaded” with Internet Cafés, some offer more than others and I'll cover a few differences. Of course all offer the basic internet access. You go in, tell the operator you need to use a computer and they lead you to a computer and off you go. Log into Hotmail, Yahoo or your favorite forum, such as Hi-Tek-Peru and read/respond to messages, post topics in a forum or just surf the web. When you're finished you return to the operator of the café and they tell you how many soles you need to pay. Prices for this range from S/. 1.00 an hour (low end) to S/. 6.00 - 10.00 an hour (high end). You may pay more for specialized services offered. Some offer on-line gaming, higher speed connections, Voice over IP (VoIP) - the ability to make phone calls using the internet (another future column) and music while you work (the computer includes headphones / a head set connection or speakers).

Advantages:
No investment in phone lines, cable services, or other on-line services. No need for your own computer, laptop or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

Disadvantages:
All the work you do is limited to the Internet Café (some may offer the ability to save data to a CD or floppy disk at an additional charge, or allow you to print out screens as your working for presentations, etc.). You need to find a café (not too difficult), must leave the “comfort” of home and hope the café is open. Difficult for insomniacs who may wish to surf at midnight!

Wi-Fi - short for wireless fidelity. This is another name for IEEE 802.11b. It is a trade term promulgated by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA).

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, there are quite a few Wi-Fi locations around Lima, so a person with a laptop or PDA with a wi-fi card, or the newer laptops with Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology built in, can sit in the park (watch out that your laptop/PDA doesn't get stolen) and connect to the Internet for a fee or in some cases, connect for free. Telefonica / Speedy offers pre-paid wi-fi cards that you can use to connect to their services (http://www.telefonica.com.pe/speedy/wi-fi.html) and this link (although in Spanish) will provide you with ALL the information you need to get connected wirelessly in and around Peru.

Before doing any of this you should visit the Telefonica link indicated above and “try” to understand the steps necessary to connect to Speedy Wi-Fi.

Advantages:
No long term contracts with a home service provider. Reasonably high speed connections which allow downloading of files, photos (and possibly viruses - be careful). Ability to connect while away from home in most central locations including the airport and a few major hotels in Lima.

Disadvantages:
You may need to leave home to find a wi-fi spot. (Some lucky residents of Miraflores may be in range of the wi-fi access spots in Larco Mar, Parque Kennedy or other central locations.) Costs are higher for the pre-paid cards than for most home dedicated services. If you don't need the high-speed access (only going to read e-mail), there are other options which may also be “semi-free” (cost of a phone call).

There are other ways of connecting to the Internet, and I'll be covering them in future columns. Don't forget that you can use the Hi-Tek forum: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/Hi-Tek-Peru
to add your comments and ask questions.

Until next month, and for all of you who are Irish - Erin go bragh or Éire go Brách (Ireland forever) - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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